Pursuing the goals and plans for this year - Persistence is a key fact

We have started the second month of the second semester of this year, and most of us are submerged in our daily routine, forgetting all the goals and expectations that we defined at the beginning of this year. What happened with all of that improvements, ambitions and intentions that we eagerly defined on January 1st?

Unfortunately (and actually as I mentioned it in a previous post), 90% of us doesn't even remember at this time what were his/her proposes. Why this happen? In my opinion is because of the lack of persistence. 

Even that we live in an unequal world, we could affirm that something that most of humans share or have in common are the eager and desire to do something. However, the key to materialize that illusion into action lies on the persistence. 

Its obvious that the achieving of this skill or capability is challenging and even that its hard to define cookbook to accomplish it, I would like to share with you a couple of ideas based on my own personal experience during these 7 months where I have been working in achieving it:

1. Persistence is based on short but consistent steps. As long as we start our projects full of energy and eager in our eyes, we use to invest most of that energy at the beginning and as time pass, that energy tends to disappear. In the contrary of this usual behavior, we should start in a balanced mood and amount of energy and dividing our project or initiative in small but consistent steps making then easier to measure, track while they help us to gain confidence.
2. Less is more. As long as the year advanced, I start to involve in several activities that in my personal experience, became uneasy to manage and a bit exhausting. At this moment, I realized  that sometimes is better to dispense some of them and focus on the most important ones. Having less activities, gives us more focus while it makes us more efficient. 
3. It's important to keep the route map. At the same way that we use maps when we are in unknown places, is important to keep our goals, objectives in a visible place. As long as we watch them, we guide our brain and our spirit, helping us to identify where we should focus the energy. In my opinion this is the lifesaver that moves us outside the routine while it allow us direct our efforts to those facts and actions that are really important for us.
4. The habits are the base of the persistence. The best way to gain persistence is building habits and these should be linked with our goals and objectives. According to several studies, adopt a new habit takes 2 months. Adopt a new habit give us discipline that combined with clear goals and objectives, promote the persistence. 
5. And finally, perfection doesn't exists. In my personal experience, one of my biggest challenges that I have faced during the achievement of my goals, is to keep the persistence as I perceived that I am not advancing as I expect. These personal moments of truth remember me that the perfection doesn't exist and it makes me rethink if I am pushing myself more than I should. In addition, it also helps me to remember that fail is natural (so I shouldn't be afraid of fail), and that if we learn of our failures we are taking advantage of them. Its also important to avoid the immersing in our problems and failures as we try always to face them fast.